The Reunion Islands

Although the real Reunion Islands are in the Indian Ocean, on my last night in the Canaries as I think back about my time here, I realize that this archipelago will always be my personal “Reunion Islands.” Not only for Rhett’s and my reunion but for our reunion with sailing friends.

It reminds me of the fall of 2021 when Rhett and I found ourselves returning to Florida after a sailing summer in Maine. Working our way down the Atlantic US East Coast, we rolled in to Cape May, Delaware at the peak of the fall bird migration. What makes Cape May so great for fall bird watching is that the migratory birds follow the land south until there is no more land, then they rest up and eat as much as they can before making the long over-water flight to Cape Henlopen. Thus, Cape May becomes a natural focal point for the birds.

Sailors migrate in a similar seasonal fashion. We tend to follow bread crumbs of islands until there are no crumbs left, then we rest, eat, and embark on the next long passage.

Tomorrow morning I’ll be doing just that. Soon after sunrise, I’ll depart Puerto de la Estaca on the southwestern most Canary Island of El Hierro and sail about 750 miles south-southwest to the Cape Verde Islands. After visiting nearly all of the Canary Islands (either with Hazel or via ferry with Rhett) I’ve gone as far as I can go—there’s no more land until the Cape Verdes.

It’s a long way, 6-7 days I’m estimating but the seasonal trade winds seem to have established themselves and I’m hoping for consistent 10-20 knot breezes out of the east-northeast and northeast which would make for ideal sailing.

The Canaries and Cape Verdes, like Cape May, are focal points. Several months ago while in Almerimar Spain, I started occasionally meeting other sailors who were preparing for a transatlantic crossing. Then, with each port-of-call further west and south, the percentage of sailors who are headed for a crossing keeps increasing. Once we reach Mindelo in the Cape Verdes we’ll basically be at 100%—100% of the sailors we meet will be crossing.

At this sailing focal point of the world, Rhett and I had the opportunity to serendipitously connect with two sets of our dearest sailing friends: William and Nicole, and Martin and Hilary.

For long-time followers of this blog, I met William when we were locked-down in the British Virgin Islands in the winter of 2020. Then in 2021 a month before Rhett and I reached Cape May, we sailed through Sag Harbor (Long Island), New York and I had the chance to introduce William and Rhett. Since then William and Nicole teamed up, and we’ve had other chances to get together in Ft. Lauderdale. Several weeks ago, and without a whole lot of planning, the four of us ended up in the same marina on the island of Lanzarote at the same time. When Rhett and I entered the marina, the harbor master directed us to the marina’s reception pontoon and found the big catamaran that Nicole and William were helping deliver across the Atlantic to the Caribbean was temporarily berthed on the same reception pontoon. We stepped off Hazel and there they were!

I met Martin in a similar focal point but on the other side of the Atlantic, St. George’s Harbour Bermuda. In the spring of 2022 I anchored in St. George’s Harbour after completing the first leg of my west-to-east transatlantic sail. As I was cleaning up Hazel after the sail, I heard a friendly, English-accented “ahoy!” from below. I looked around, then down and there was Martin, clearly destined to become another best friend. We made plans to meet on shore later, and as Martin rowed away, he said, “You might want to bring a long painter (bow line), it’s a bit of a bun fight at the dinghy dock.” Rhett and I still laugh about the phrase “…a bit of a bun fight….” Since Martin and I were both single-handed sailors we palled around in Bermuda, kept in touch via satellite email during the crossing, then in the Azores his wife Hilary came to visit him and the three of us had wonderful hikes on the islands. In December of that year, Hilary and Martin graciously hosted us at their beautiful cottage in Wales and we enjoyed the best of the Christmas season with them. While not attempting a crossing (this year at least), Hilary and Martin were on the island of La Palma on their slightly-bigger-than-Hazel yacht Chardonnay of Solent when Rhett and I visited La Palma via ferry. We had just one overlapping night but made the most of the rainy evening in a leaky-roofed tapas restaurant.

So, it’s my last night in the Canaries. As with Porto Santo and Madeira, I’m so happy that I dug deep into the islands and just didn’t make it a quick pit stop as I hurried through. While it’s a little sad when I think back fondly of Rhett’s and my time here and of our reunions with friends on this focal point of the world, I’m happy about moving on and our next set of adventures.

As with other long passages, I’ll be making daily updates on Hazel’s satellite tracker. You can check out how we are doing on our home page and also read-up on what’s going on, on-board and in our heads as we continue southward. As a teaser, we’ve got some exciting “trade deadline” news to share.

Fair winds and following seas!